Sydney Airport rail travel: new fees proposed

The cost of catching a train to Sydney Airport would fall for families or groups travelling to the airport as well as airport staff, under proposals put forward by a cross-party parliamentary committee.

Commuters waiting for a train at the airport railway station. Photo: Brendan Esposito

The committee also calls on the government to set aside the millions of dollars it makes from expensive tickets charged for Domestic and International airport station trips into a dedicated transport fund.

The recommendations from the NSW Legislative Council committee, which tabled its report on Friday morning, are significant because conservative members make up a majority of the committee. Of its seven members, three are from the Coalition government, one from the Christian Democratic Party, two from Labor, and one from the Greens.

"Some groups are more affected than others by the current cost of the station usage fee," the Liberal chair of the committee, Natasha Maclaren-Jones, wrote of the fee that adds $12.60 to the cost of catching a train to the privately-operated airport stations.

An adult ticket from the city to the airport costs $16.40; without the fee it would cost $3.80.

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"The committee acknowledges that full- and part-time workers at the airport are particularly affected," Ms Maclaren-Jones wrote. "Hence we have recommended to remove or discount the fee for employees, volunteers and contractors, as well as people travelling in groups and families."

Other recommendations made by the committee include scheduling more bus services directly to the airport. This would require removing a provision in the contract with Airport Link Company, the operator of the airport stations, that allows the company to be compensated if competing public transport services were scheduled.

The report also recommends introducing more dedicated airport train services in the morning peak, installing free Wi-Fi at the airport stations and in the airport tunnels, and allowing the independent pricing regulator to control future fare increases on the airport line.

In dissenting statements, the committee's Labor and Greens members called on the government to go further. Labor members Penny Sharpe and Mick Veitch said the government should investigate removing the $12.60 fee in its entirety as the fastest way to remove road congestion around the airport.

"It is also our view that the government should be in a position to implement a reduction of the station usage fee in 2015," they wrote.

Greens Member Mehreen Faruqi said the government should negotiate buying back the line from Airport Link. Dr Faruqi cited the experience of what happened when the government in 2011 removed the station access fees from nearby Green Square and Mascot Stations – patronage increased 260 per cent and 130 per cent respectively – as evidence of the impact this would have.

The inquiry heard that about 80 per cent of the airport's 28,000 staff currently drive to the airport. Many staff would switch to rail, but were put off by the high cost of catching the train.

The initial Airport Link contract was signed in 1995, and the line was opened in May 2000. Airport Link defaulted within six months of opening because of poor patronage, and a revised contract was signed in 2005.

This contract includes revenue sharing measures that mean the government will make about $4 million a month from the station access fee from August.

The line will revert to public ownership in 2030.

Transport Minister Gladys Berejiklian said: "Obviously, I will look at the report. It will take a lot of convincing for me to cut hundreds of millions in funding from other transport services to pay for the access fee."

Business, tourism and community groups called on the government to not only heed the committee's recommendations, but go still further.

The convenor of advocacy group the Sydney Alliance, Amanda Tattersall, said the committee's recommendations were a positive step in terms of improving access to the airport precinct.

"We want to congratulate the committee for pursuing the issue and for taking the interests of airport workers and commuters seriously," Dr Tattersall said.

Deputy chief executive of the Tourism & Transport Forum Trent Zimmerman said his organisation was disappointed the committee did not recommend that costs be reduced for all visitors to the airport.

"While the committee has recommended some discounting, we are not sure that the proposal is practical or will deliver the big increases in public transport patronage that are needed to reduce road congestion," Mr Zimmerman said.

"Sydney Airport is served by a fast and direct rail service, but only 15 per cent of people travelling to the airport are using it because it is too expensive," he said.